Cassie Whitehill, third from left, with supporters, from left, Hannah May, of Battery Point, Emma Mahoney, of New Norfolk, Karen and David Annand, of Kingston, and Bianca Tolputt, of New Norfolk. Source: News Corp Australia

ANTI-BULLYING laws, particularly focused on cyber-bullying, could be introduced after the March 15 State Election in the wake of the Chloe’s Law campaign.

Cassie Whitehill has been fighting for tough penalties against bullies since the loss of her sister Chloe in 2013, who committed suicide after years of verbal, physical and online abuse.

The Chloe’s Law Facebook page has close to 300,000 members and a national petition has collected about 46,000 signatures.

The campaign was strongly supported by the community and the Mercury.

Attorney-General Brian Wightman said the laws were needed to crackdown on young bullies. people engaged in bullying.

The Liberal Party and the Greens also supported examining reforms to legislation to criminalise bullying. Opposition spokeswoman for children Jacquie Petrusma said the Liberals would task the Law Reform Institute with de­veloping “best practice laws” to tackle the issue.

“We will also invest $3 million into community-led suicide prevention strategies that will include a targeted youth suicide prevention strategy,” she said.

“We will work closely with the Youth Network of Tasmania to develop and implement that strategy.”

Greens leader Nick McKim said making bullying a crime could be one part of the solution and his party would support exploring reforms to the criminal code.

“Unfortunately bullying remains common in Tasmania, and clearly law reform is an important part of the solution,” he said.

“The rapidly changing ­nature of technology also means greater emphasis is needed on addressing bullying on social media.

“Cyber-bullying is a growing problem in our society with recent reports indicating up to a quarter of young people ­having been cyber-bullied.”